Don't Misunderstand Us
by Konaxookami
Summary: "Are you Outers really serious about protecting Serenity? You always seem like you don't seem to care…" Venus murmured. "Don't misunderstand us Venus. We aren't the same as the Inners," Uranus' voice was husky and fervent. Her eyes flickered to her partner and Venus let her gaze follow. Serenity was listening, enraptured to Neptune speak. Neptune's smile made Venus' heart hurt.


No I'm not dead I promise. I just went through a very busy end of the school year and beginning of summer. I couldn't write. But these past two weeks I've been writing a lot. Even the next chapter of OWAS! This can kinda be considered a companion piece to that actually. In the same sort of time frame as the Intermission.

This sort of came to me when I was reading the new publication of the manga. (if you haven't picked it up you should, it's very very good.) Haruka and Michiru were finally introduced in the last volume and in the manga, (which is quite different than the anime mind you) there's a sense of longing in Michiru and Haruka to be close to Usagi, but at the time they push her back because they need to focus on their mission at hand. IT reminded me that the Outers really never saw her back in the day-except a few spare times. So this came to mind. Venus, who undoubtably has the closest bond to Serenity in the past, and in Sailor V (what with everything that Minako goes through discovering that her one REAL love is Serenity and the need to protect her) and Uranus. Talking. Because I can. It sort of ran away from me at the end since I didn't think it would get this long, but it did. Oh well, I'm just sort of taking it as it.

Ignore any glaring errors, it's been a while and I have no Beta.

* * *

"Hey, Uranus."

The Senshi of the Sky turned towards the Senshi of Love and cocked an eyebrow.

"Haa?" Uranus' breath fogged in front of her face and Venus shivered at the reminder of how dreadfully cold it was on the Planet of Winds.

"I was just wondering you know, about something," Venus frowned, rubbing her arms in an attempt to get blood flowing, "It's been bothering me for a really long actually."

Uranus turned, facing the younger girl fully. She leaned forward and nodded, "Go ahead Venus-I promise I don't bite," her lips twitched in a grin, "Unless that's what you'd like, mm?"

"A-ah…" Venus felt warmth rush to her cheeks and she just knew they were red, at no fault of the chilled winds. She shook her head, and gulped, "It's about the princess."

"We're all princesses Venus, as you're fond of reminding us all," Uranus' grin grew and she leaned back, drawing her arms across her chest, "Which princess are you talking about?"

Venus shivered again; _Mars did warn me that these two were cryptic. They certainly know how to dance around the point._ The thought irked her, causing her to frown but she persisted, "Serenity. Princess Serenity."

The name had an immediate effect. Uranus' eyes lit up with fire, her stance growing tense. There was a moment of silence before Uranus narrowed her eyes, "What about Serenity?" her voice dropped, and she took a step closer to her fellow solider. Her eyes flickered to the girl in mention, only a few yards away speaking with Neptune.

Venus stepped in on cue and her eyebrows knit in a frown, "Are you Outers really serious about protecting her? You always seem like you don't seem to care…" she watched a myriad of emotions pass over the normally impassive soldier's face and gulped, "I'm just looking out for Serenity's well being."

Venus wanted to retreat the moment the last word was out of her mouth. Uranus' eyes were starting to unnerve her. She fidgeted, but held the older soldier's eyes.

"Don't misunderstand us Venus. We aren't the same as the Inners," Uranus' voice was husky and fervent. Her eyes flickered to her partner and Venus let her gaze follow. Serenity was listening, enraptured to Neptune speak. Neptune's smile made Venus' heart hurt.

"We're the Outers for a reason. We are the Senshi who protect the Solar System from anyone who wishes to enter it with unwelcome intentions," Uranus turned her gaze back to Venus and the younger solider was shocked by the sadness etched in the normally so calm face, "We are banished to the edges of our universe to make sure that you need only worry about the princess. That's _your_ job. But don't think for a _second_ that we don't love our princess just as much s you all do."

Her gaze went back to the other two and Venus watched as her gaze softened. Venus felt her stomach drop in shame as she saw the unconditional love for the princess mirrored in the two soldiers' faces.

"Oh…I'm sorry Uranus. I jumped to conclusions. It's just that we never see you so you have to understand that we just-" Venus' apology was cut off by Uranus mussing her hair with a chuckle.

"Don't worry. We don't see you all enough either. You're still young too-you haven't have the time we have to understand how all of this fits in the bigger picture," Uranus' grin was back and Venus felt her cheeks flush.

"But-what holds you to the princess? You don't see her every day like us, and you might never know what good your efforts do!" Venus pressed, not ready to let the subject drop.

Uranus huffed, running a hand through her hair, "Geez…you kids sure don't know how to let things go. Let me put it this way, okay? You guys were born either a little before Serenity or after her. For Neptune, Pluto, and me…we were all a little older at that point. We were all at the court on the Moon. Waiting for Serenity to come. This was before we had even began training or awakened," Uranus' eyes fluttered closed and she smiled, "But I remember it very, very clearly. The night Serenity was born I woke up crying. The first time we heard her crying, Neptune, and me we barely knew each other then, we both ran to the Queen's chambers and met up with Pluto. All of us went into the room and fell to our knees. I didn't understand why I was so moved, so _happy_ about this baby. I didn't get it."

Venus blinked, her gaze switching to the giggling heiress of the Moon.

"Pluto was the first of us to get up-she's about the same as she was then, but me and Neptune-we were only 5 or 6 then. She went over to the Queen and Serenity and ushered the both of us over. She explained, 'This is our princess. It's our job to make sure that nothing can ever come close enough to harm her.'" Uranus chuckled, "I swore so quickly that nothing would ever happen that even the Queen laughed. But that night…We all knew. We could never betray her-never not love her. She was the princess destined for great things. We would die for her, even if we didn't understand why," she smirked, glancing as Venus from the corner her eyes, "Understand?"

"Not really…" Venus mumbled, rubbing the back of her neck, "But I do at the same time. But I guess, if it works for you guys…" she smiled and nodded, "It will work for me. We all love Serenity, even if she can be a brat sometimes, or annoy us. She's still our princess."

"Right," Uranus mussed Venus' hair again, "See? You're learning after all. You'll be a great leader yet," she let her hand come down to Venus' shoulder and gripped it tightly, "I know you'll do everything you can to protect her, so don't give up easily okay? We're all rooting for you Minako."

Venus' stuttered, sputtering as Uranus laughed.

"Older than you remember? I know all of your names," she winked, "Oi, Michiru, don't we know everyone's names?" she called behind her, and Venus gaped as Neptune raised her head with a smile.

"Oh yes, Rei was a little more than shocked when I referred to her by her given name," Neptune and Serenity walked over to join the two blondes and Neptune's coy smile made her blush worsen, "I take it Haruka surprised you didn't she? She's fond of trying to get a rise out of others," Neptune mused, and tweaked Uranus' ear, "She should know better though."

"Hey now Michiru! You're worse than me though! You just don't let anyone else know it!" Uranus protested, grinning all the while, "What were you and Serenity talking about?"

"Oh, well…Just how the Inners have been lately. She asked how we've been faring out here in the cold alone," Neptune answered, eyes flickering to the princess who ducked her head sheepishly.

"Aah…" Uranus smiled, and Venus was struck once again by the change in demeanor by the soldier, "Well, there's no need for you to worry about little old us Serenity," she winked, tilting the girl's chin up so she could look at Uranus, "We're pretty used to the cold out here nowadays. Besides," Venus watched as Uranus' eyes flashed to Neptune for a spilt second before returned to the shocked girl's, "the two of us are never really alone when we've got each other right?"

Neptune chuckled, "You're flustering her Haruka," she scolded, and placed a hand on Serenity's shoulder, "Don't fret over us Serenity. We're fine. You worry about that Earth Prince instead of us mm? He's far closer and far more attractive than this barbarian here," she smirked up at Uranus and Venus felt sorry for Serenity who had somehow been dragged into their strange flirting/one-up-manship contest.

"Oh? Well! Then I suppose you'd rather fight with the Earth Prince then Michiru? Hmph! Well, then I'll just stay here with Serenity instead!"

"E-Eh?" Serenity's face was red and she met eyes with Venus, confused and begging for a way out.

Venus had to muffle her snort and coughed, "Well, while you two fight over that, I'm going to take Serenity to lunch!" she stuck her tongue out at the two Outers and grinned, "Bye."

Uranus laughed, looping an arm around Neptune's shoulder, "Oh, a speedy getaway? There see that's how a leader should think. Shoo then you two, and get something to eat. We'll catch up later."

Venus cast a glance back at the two Outers as she and Serenity walked back towards the castle and away from the courtyard. She caught the two of them staring longingly towards Serenity and felt her heart pinch in sympathy.

"Ne, Venus," Serenity piped up, "Those two you know, and Pluto…They're really mature and smart," she murmured, smiling quietly, "they listen to me no matter what I have to say and they always smile and encourage me," she glanced at Venus, "Not like you guys don't do that!" she quickly amended, "But it's just, they always give me all of their attention, and they just look so _sad_ when they're smiling at me," she wrung her hands, "I wish they could stay with all of us on the Moon."

Venus smiled, "I wouldn't worry about them Serenity," she linked arms with the princess, "They're so wrapped up each other that they don't have time to think about being lonely out there. Besides, they love you just as much as we do Serenity. Maybe even more. They'll do what the have to for you and never complain."

Venus cast one last glance backward at the faint sound of laughter and smiled, "Yeah. I wouldn't worry about those two. They're happy."

* * *

Part of me realizes after the fact that the scene where Haruka is talking about Serenity's birth is eerily similar to in Fruits Basket when they talk about Akito's conception. Well...the circumstances are similar enough to work. Besides, I get the feeling the Outers just have this profound sort of connection with Serenity that the Inners don't need because they're always there. It's sort of a safety net for whenever they start getting resentful about their post-they just remember their princess and that bond and it gets a little easier. (Or something like that)

Still though, I've gotten into really dissecting characters lately, so I've been doing a lot of note taking and nonsense like that to use for my stories. I've also been listening to a lot of Sera Myu lately (since they announced the new anime I'm holding out for a revival of the musicals too!). But thank you as always for reading and putting up with my awful writing tendencies! Reviews are wonderful and I would be very very very very very happy if you left me some. Encouragement does wonderful things! Until next time though!

**~konaxookami**


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